I have known for many days and am able to confirm the news published by Novus Ordo Watch - USA, Sedevacantist, CSI-Diffusion - France, Sedevacantist, and Whispers in the Loggia - USA, Ultraliberal (a very eclectic team) regarding the possible future settlement of the two prerequisites for further discussions between the Apostolic See and the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X: the lifting (the wording may not be exact) of excommunications and the recognition of the right of every priest in the Latin Church to celebrate the Traditional Mass, at least in private.

I would add the most important information that reports of a division among the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and co-consecrated by Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer in 1988 are wrong -- there is no such division.

Papal speeches to the courts of the Roman Curia are among the most important addresses a Pope may give, because they have immediate consequence: they are to be considered as interpretative guides to the Law as applied by the judges of these Superior Tribunals.

The most important part of the speech in my opinion, though, was not exactly related to the speed of annulments, but to communion to divorced Catholics living in sin (in civil "marriage", in "common law marriage, or other form of "companionship", all of which are not important in the eyes of the Magisterium). Here are the Pope's words:

As you well know, the attention given to the procedures of matrimonial annulment always greatly transcend the field of the experts. The ecclesiastical sentences in this matter, in fact, define the possibility or not of the reception of eucharistic Communion by not a few faithful.

Annulments, that is, the ecclesiastical decisions that a previous "marriage" actually was not a true marriage and therefore never existed, are a condition for the reception of eucharistic communion by those who are "remarried": that is, those whose previous marriage to a still living person is presumed valid and who live with someone else, even if after a civil "divorce" and "remarriage", live in sin and objectively are not allowed to receive communion.

This, of course, is pretty obvious and has always been the Catholic position, but it had been undermined by not a few prelates in the past few months.

At that time, when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him: and behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but He was asleep. And His disciples came to Him and awaked Him, saying: Lord, save us, we perish. And Jesus saith to them: Why are you fearful, O ye a little faith? Then rising up, He commanded the winds and the sea, and there came a great calm. But the men wondered, saying: What manner of man is this, for the winds and the sea obey Him? (St. Matthew, viii, 23-27)

Lord, your Church often seems like a boat about to sink,a boat taking in water on every side.

In your field we see more weeds than wheat.

The soiled garments and face of your Church throw us into confusion.

Yet it is we ourselves who have soiled them!It is we who betray you time and time again,after all our lofty words and grand gestures.

Have mercy on your Church;within her too, Adam continues to fall.

When we fall, we drag you down to earth, and Satan laughs,for he hopes that you will not be able to rise from that fall;he hopes that being dragged down in the fall of your Church,you will remain prostrate and overpowered.

But you will rise again.You stood up, you aroseand you can also raise us up.

This very interesting website includes many relevant texts on the old and revised (1990) forms of the Hispanic Rite, also known as Gothic, Hispano-Mozarabic, or simply Mozarabic Rite, in Latin and in Spanish (it was exclusively in Latin in its pre-revision texts).

The new texts of the Mozarabic Missal were published by Cardinal González Martín, in 1990, "so that the faithful may participate, fully, actively and consciously in the liturgical celebrations (Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium 14) [...] extensively to the other non-Roman rites, which, if necessary, are to be revised according to sound tradition to acquire new vigor." (Preface to the new Hispano-Mozarabic Missal). Well, that does not sound very promising.

The changes in the Gothic Canon (now called "Prex Eucharistica"...) were significant, but not extensive. Compare the pre-revision and post-revision consecration formulas below:

The consecration formulas themselves have thankfully been preserved (and there is not a flood of different "Eucharistic Prayers", as it happened in the New Roman Mass), but several parts have been altered.

There are several changes in the Calendar (end of Septuagesima), in the Lectionary (years I and II), and so forth... Quite a splendid way to preserve their ancestors' heritage! The Mass may (must?) be wholly celebrated in the vernacular (poor people of old, who could not understand what the Mass was!), and may be ordinarily "concelebrated".

The website is quite interesting and full of up-to-date information (in Latin and Spanish), including some audio files, on the old and new forms of the Mozarabic Rite. More information on the unrevised Mozarabic Rite may be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia (and, offline, in extensive comments by Fr. Adrian Fortescue in several of his works and particularly in Dom Prosper Guéranger's Institutions Liturgiques).

Finally, is the new form celebrated versus Deum, as it had always been done? It has been difficult to find further information on this; the picture of this outdoor New Mozarabic Mass does not look promising (see here, last image). When will the liturgical revolution end?

There are some interesting aspects to comment in the Pope's first encyclical, the first papal encyclical since 2002 . I have already presented a few grave translation problems (read here), which clearly disrespect the literalness of the Latin typical text (more observations here); I have also made clear my opinion that "the most sublime portions had already been explored by previous pontiffs (and this is all very good, the last thing the Church needs now is more innovation)"(source). The letter contains, however, words which make clear that "Liberation Theology" may finally be considered as gone for good.

The movement known as "Liberation Theology" exploded in Latin America (and in several niche spots around the world) in the late 1960s, and it can be said that defeating it was one of the greatest doctrinal achievements of Pope John Paul II, who inherited, in this as in every other field, a disastrous legacy from Paul VI -- a theological hemorrhage which, one must admit, John Paul succeeded in stopping. But, though defeated, Liberation Theology has survived and it still thrives in many diocesan and religious seminaries in Latin American and Asia (and North America?...).

Cardinal Ratzinger was in the forefront of the movement to stop the spread of this theological ailment -- and the first significant steps were the Instruction "Libertatis Nuntius" on certain aspects of the 'Theology of Liberation' (1984) and the process which led to the "Notification to Father Leonardo Boff" (1985).

The second significant step was the highly regarded centennial encyclical of Rerum Novarum, Centesimus Annus (1991). Let us remember its significant comments on the market economy:

...can it perhaps be said that, after the failure of Communism, capitalism is the victorious social system, and that capitalism should be the goal of the countries now making efforts to rebuild their economy and society? Is this the model which ought to be proposed to the countries of the Third World which are searching for the path to true economic and civil progress? The answer is obviously complex. If by "capitalism" is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a "business economy", "market economy" or simply "free economy".

This is poison to the worldview of "liberationists", which is essentially Marxist.It destroys what they view must be the unified position of the "People of God" in economic matters: some kind of socialist struggle (or non-interventionism, but inevitable conflictual evolution, for the Teilhardian "liberationists") which will establish the Kingdom of God on Earth. As Pope John Paul made clear in Centesimus Annus, however:

When people think they possess the secret of a perfect social organization which makes evil impossible, they also think that they can use any means, including violence and deceit, in order to bring that organization into being. Politics then becomes a "secular religion" which operates under the illusion of creating paradise in this world. But no political society — which possesses its own autonomy and laws — can ever be confused with the Kingdom of God.

Explaining Centesimus Annus in plain words, Rocco Buttiglione (by the way, after 2004, the most famous victim of European religious persecution) wrote in 1991 that the liberty celebrated in that encyclical (true liberty, not political "liberation" with Marxist overtones) is not a value which is good in itself; rather:

Freedom is given to man in order to make possible the free obedience to truth and the free gift of oneself in love. Truth and love are the measure of freedom and of the rules of the self-realization of freedom, in the field of economics as well as in all others.

Dr. Buttiglione's words provide a clear bridge to the death of Liberation Theology in Deus Caritas Est, a death caused by Charity (as shall be seen in the second part of this series).

What does one do about a most interesting piece of news that, nevertheless, one feels as not appropriate to reveal? This has pressed my mind for the past couple of days, regarding news which is not exactly new (describing events of decades ago), published in a foreign language, but whose general tone sounds improper or unseemly for what is, after all, not a site for Catholic gossip or disrespect (there are already "Catholic" bloggers who are experts in gossip, slime, and disrespect, and who see the Church as simply an immense succession of power plays -- enough of those).

The report is extremely important, it is remarkably credible, and it explains personal causes of many aspects of the problems Holy Mother Church still faces today.

This news will possibly be available in English in the next few days or weeks, but you will not hear it from this blog first -- this is a reminder that we knew about it first, but decided against spreading it.

250 years ago today, the seventh and last child (and only the second to survive infancy) of Leopold Mozart, Vice-Kapellmeister to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and Anna Maria Mozart was born in Salzburg. He was named after the saint of the day, in the Traditional Roman Calendar, Saint John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church: Johannes Chrysostomus [Johann Chrysostom] Wolfgang Theophilus [Gotlieb, Amadeus] Mozart. Our frequent readers may have noticed in the past few days the seal in the sidebar which links to the BBC Radio 3 page with lots of interesting music options for this week (it is not a commercial link, since this blog has no ads). The city and Land of Salzburg also have an interesting Mozart 250 page.

My personal admiration for Mozart's music -- especially his sacred music -- knows no boundaries. I am glad that his talent has also touched the heart and soul of so many Catholics -- today as well as in his lifetime. From the Vatican Secret Archives:

On the 10th April 1770, [Mozart] arrived in Rome together with his father and, as guest of many noble and ecclesiastic salons, the “infant prodigy” showed his mastery. He also went to a liturgical celebration in the Sistine Chapel, where he could listen to the Miserere by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652) for two nine-part choirs; already knowing that he could not get the music score because it was strictly prohibited, he transcribed the piece by heart at the end of the liturgy, almost without any mistakes. Mozart so highly impressed the scholars of the Curia that Pope Clement XIV decided to honour the artistic talent of the this boy from Saltsburg by granting him a private audience (together with father Giovanni Battista Martini, another famous musician who Mozart had already met in Bologna), thus conferring him the high honour of the golden army or the “Golden Spur”. ... In the brief it is also possible to read a praise of the young musician (f. 24r: te, quem in suavissimo cymbali sonitu a prima adolescentia tua excellentem esse intelleximus).